What "law" is referenced in Psalm 119?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Mr. Bultitude

Puritan Board Freshman
Psalm 119 praises the "law" and "statutes" and "word" of God. What do those words refer to? I see a few possiblities (but note that I don't see these as mutually exclusive):

  1. The Mosaic law
  2. The entire Bible
  3. The entire body of decrees that God has put forth, including those not directly recorded in the Bible
  4. The moral law, i.e. just those aspects of the Mosaic law that did not pass away in the New Covenant
Maybe this is slicing and dicing (I'm open to the accusation), but which of these does Psalm 119 commend? What did the human author have in mind, and what should we glean from it today? Looking forward to a good discussion.
 
It seems from the context that the author has all of Scripture in mind. Spurgeon note this in his Treasury of David:

"The one theme is the word of the Lord. The Psalmist sets his subject in many lights, and treats of it in divers ways, but he seldom omits to mention the word of the Lord in each verse under some one or other of the many names by which he knows it; and even if the name be not there, the subject is still heartily pursued in every stanza. He who wrote this wonderful song was saturated with those books of Scripture which he possessed."
 
"Nor is Bellarmine's first objection of any force, that only the precepts of the law are meant and not the whole of Scripture. For the word 'law' frequently means the whole word of God, and the effects (consolation and renewal) teach that it ought so to be understood" (Turretin, 1:144).
 
The entirety of the Bible, taken as a whole, keeping in mind those aspects that are either fulfilled or abrogated under the New Covenant.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top